Day 96 – Thursday

Ena: Update: the scouring of my closet and the serious reconsidering of clothing from my purchased-but-not-worn collection will extend into the weekend, so don’t expect to see anything new and exciting until next week…and maybe not even then – these things may have been purchased but not worn for a reason. That said, today I am wearing items from my purchased-and-worn-once collection, except for the cardigan which belongs to the purchased-and-worn-way-too-much collection; think I’m kidding, see yesterday’s post.

Likely the result of a youth spent in Catholic school uniforms, I absolutely love the combination of red and navy; it’s bold and classic and pretty much everyone can pull it off. Needless to say, with the exception of the shoes – I really think that the outfit would look better with some chunkier, more masculine loafers, but I don’t have any, so there – I was quite pleased with my look today. It wasn’t until receiving an unintentional diss from a coworker that I began to rethink my opinion on the matter.

This afternoon, we were forced to gather in the nearest conference room in order to celebrate someone’s birthday. This is a task that I am already loath to participate in, mainly because I hate small-talk, forced conversation, awkward pauses, and the joyless singing of joyful songs…and also because I am not currently eating cake. Anyway, while sitting uncomfortably in the conference room plotting my escape, Bina walked by, prompting one of our coworkers to turn to me and say, “This is my favorite look on her.” Yay Bina! This person then said, “So, you were going for comfort today, huh?” Huh?!

On a more positive note, I was very happy to receive an email this morning relaying that (contrary to the opinion of some) the state of California does not consider me a serious threat to children and clearing me to begin volunteering at 826LA, which I will do next Tuesday night at 6 pm. So, outfit schmoutfit – I’m finally gonna get my volunteer on. Yay me!

Bina - Day 96

Bina: This is my power outfit, my “maybe I have an interview, maybe I don’t” outfit. It may not seem that outlandish, but I wore it specifically because of how different it is from the way I would normally dress, at least prior to this project. It is simple and clean and muted and polished and pretty much the opposite of comfy. Anyway, I think I was trying to look tough in today’s photos below, but instead I just look confused? Bemused? Skeptical? Grrrrrrrr? Actually, “Grrrrrrr?” could very well be the caption for all of these photos. Yeah, so looking tough isn’t necessarily my strong suit. Oh well, I tried.

I tried to channel Ena a little actually. She’s tough, and she don’t take no guff. Wow. I did not intend to rhyme my way into a terrible campaign slogan, but if she ever decides to run for public office (a possibility!), we’ve gotten that out of the way. I think I was paying homage to her Day 20 look, but I’m like the poor man’s version, as in, seriously, this shirt and skirt were each $2. I told you. I have a problem.

Anyway, somehow, just as I was leaving the office at 5 to head to Anaheim, a huge wind storm picked up. I was quite literally almost knocked off my feet, my bags were a-flailing, I was struggling with my coat, and my hair was blowing in every possible direction. An elderly gentleman on a cart stopped next to me and shouted, “You need a ride to the gate? You look like you’re getting blown away there! Hop on!” He was positively beaming.

I hesitated only slightly. “Okay! Thank you so much!” I hopped on the cart and chatted a little with Bob. I don’t think he thought I looked very tough at all, but, to be honest, I’m glad he didn’t, cuz my feet hurt.